"What is worse? Not creating jobs or lying about creation of jobs?" Chidambaram asked in a tweet, alleging that the National Democratic Alliance government was guilty of both. "The top three issues in the elections will be jobs, jobs and jobs."

"Glad that CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) has found its voice and has exposed the government's bogus claims on job creation. Hope that others also will speak up," the former Union finance minister added.

The CII had on Wednesday expressed concern over the country's job market amid growing challenges of making a generation employment-ready. However, it had on Thursday said the recent reforms ushered in by the government were creating new livelihoods across existing and emerging sectors.